When I decided to make the change to thick (1/16” or 1.5mm) veneer for my marquetry I knew it was a big and expensive step. The first part was to establish an inventory of exotic sawn veneer from Les Fils de J George in Paris but that wasn’t the end of it. Before I made that trip and purchased that material I was aware of the thick, albeit sliced, veneer available at Certainly Wood right here in North America. Their selection is not much in the exotics but very good in the basic domestic hardwoods and a few imports. With this in mind I concentrated on exotic species in Paris planning to fill out my palette with less expensive sliced material at a later date. These species would become the backgrounds for my exotic weighted marquetry.

Well today my inventory was filled out with the arrival of the following from Certainly Wood. Upon opening the 4’ X 20” package, the first thing that struck me was how big the pieces are. Most of this was in the ten foot range which I had cut down for shipping but the widths were the thing that caught my attention. The curly Maple is 19” at the widest and the Walnut is 16”. the others you can estimate but for a total outlay of under $400 I now have the ability to expand my horizons and start looking at bigger pieces ….. furniture rather than just pretty boxes.

I should add that the East Indian Laurel Burl is standard thin but I love the color and figure. I will back it with thinner material or double it if I use it with the 1.5mm stuff.

African Mahogany

Wenge

Sen

Alder (mislabeled Maple ….. by me)

Makore

Cherry (mislabeled Alder …. by me)

Curly Maple

Walnut

East Indian Laurel Burl

About the mislabeling, I was expecting some plain maple as well and as it looks similar to alder, I made the slip and followed it up by calling the cherry alder… What can I say? If they aren’t boat building woods, I’m not that good.

Now I am finally out of excuses and its “Damn the torpedoes” time…. Full speed ahead with the thick veneer era in my marquetry journey. ..... after I post the project I’m currently finishing up …...

22 comments so far

we shall give the boat builder some latitude on his wood species identifications..as he has more then proven his abilities on the chevy and has given enough eye candy to last a woodworker a long long time…;)

Paul, Certainly Wood specifies their veneer thicknesses as standard 1/42” unless stated otherwise. Do you have to search through their listings to find the thicker material, or am I missing a page that lists these?

Also, do you have an address in Paris for Les Fils de George? Heading there relatively soon.

Hi Bob, I’ve missed you around here. Yes, Les Fils de J George is easy to get to, a short walk from the Gallieni metro station. At Certainly Wood’s site look for the “special thickness” page. It’s the bottom one on the veneer inventory page.How’s your French?

I’ve been eying that site for awhile. They are just about 100 miles down the road from me and I put off ordering because I want to go see the veneers in person. I cant believe the prices on the sales & specials link and the the regular prices aren’t that bad either. Looks like you picked up some nice stuff, has your wife caught on to your addiction yet or do you just use the excuse that you need the new veneer for a specific project? :)

-- Paul--- Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. — Scott Adams

Well you have quite a selection of veneers in different colours and grains that should give you a artists pallet in wood that can only make a guy drool .I can understand the cost difference between sawn and sliced veneers as the yield of sliced veneer from a log is much higher.It would be helpful for you to explain the difference of the two types and your preference of sawn veneer .